Where Is My Mind
by The Aeolian Mode
Summary: Kagome was an ordinary and naive high-school girl. Everything was so normal. Just one night was all it took for her life to be turned upside-down. Now, her life is shared with another being living inside her body. AU; Ghosts-Gore-Angst-Romance
1. Prefix

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to click on this story. This is an Alternate Universe fic, so I thought I'd make a little pre-story note to explain some things before we dive into the tale.

Something that's going to be a very important factor for my story is religion. In this alternate world that Inuyasha comes from, his country is immersed in war because of a religion. The religion itself is similar to Christianity, (specifically Medieval Catholicism), in practice. Old Testament to the extreme. The best way to describe it is Handel's _Dixit Dominus_

Dominum a dextris tuis confregit in die irae suae reges.  
_(The LORD at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.)_

Judicabit in nationibus, implebit ruinas; conquassabit capita in terra multuorum.  
_(He shall judge among the nations, he will fill them with ruins; he will crush skulls over populous lands_.)

Having said that, if you are Christian, PLEASE do not take offense to how I use it as reference for this story. I admire it is a religion. A lot. I mean, back in the day, people were still building wood and mud huts… but then pulled places like Amiens Cathedral out of their butts. It's fascinating, really. I myself was raised Catholic, and I love the ritualistic aspect of it. I am rather open-minded and accepting of every religion, as I am considering minoring in Anthropology. Not one religion is 'wrong', but not one religion is the absolute truth in my mind. Everyone is right, because everyone has different opinions.

So… please don't be offended by the nitty-gritty nature this story takes. There's going to be a lot of unpleasant moments that might make you cringe or get angry, but keep in mind, this is just for entertainment's sake.

After this AN, I'm going to try and not write any more notes, including things before the chapter starts. I feel like whenever I read stories, I usually just skip them anyway. If I do write a note, it will be suggested music or clarification of historical facts at the bottom of the chapter to clarify some things.

Anyway, enough about politics and views and… everything.

Being in the midst of college, stressful family issues, (my parents are divorced), and a number of other events going on, my updates have become a lot less frequent.

…sorry...

I'll try to be better in the future. Again, thank you for reading my story!

A tout a leur,

Aeolian Mode


	2. Of Spells and Swords

**Blanket Disclaimer:**

This work is my own, but I am in no way shape or form am getting profit from writing this. Inuyasha belongs to its creator and publisher. I am merely a fan who enjoys imagining other situations with the beloved characters. Please do not copy and pass it off as your own.

**Thank you, and enjoy the ride…**

* * *

Large amber eyes danced a mere inch from in front of her face. They were like fire, glowing with an intensity that was utterly hypnotizing, despite being so utterly terrifying. The effect was much like how the light of an angler fish dazes its prey before the kill. Kagome found that she was paralyzed with fear, unable to even take a breath. Nothing in her experience could have prepared her for this singular moment. This was true terror. This was the equivalent to watching a tidal wave crest just above one's head. This was seeing the trigger of a gun, aimed straight at one's heart being pulled. These were the eyes of the one that would kill her. This would be the last thing she would glimpse before the end. This…

…was not how things should have gone… it was supposed to be a parlor trick… a show, and nothing more. A joke. Harmless. Funny. Proof that she wasn't as timid as her friends thought she was.

The thing, her executioner's mouth turned upwards in a smile, revealing fangs. Its hot breath made the soft, tiny hairs on her neck flutter, causing her to shudder. Once the tremor started, she found that her body wouldn't stop shaking in pure fright. The flaming eyes started to fade as the darkness of the room started consume her vision. The black candles she had lit extinguished in a soft, yet icy breeze. She could feel herself blacking out. The sensation of weightlessness… falling over backwards. The firmness of a female chest. Her name being called by a familiar voice.

* * *

"Kagome!"

The teenager turned upon hearing her name being called from behind her. Curious, she looked for the source of the voice in the crowd of departing students. School had ended roughly ten minutes ago, so the amount of foot-traffic in the area was high. Squinting, she was able to scan the sea of faces for the familiar visage of her friend, Eri. However, she didn't need to look for long; a girl with a bobbed haircut and smile was purposefully jogging towards her.

"Hey!" Kagome yelled back with an answering smile blossoming from her cheeks. "What's up?" The friend laughed and locked her elbow around the girl; both spun from the recoil, laughing more. Their friendship was effortless. Eri was a pragmatist, and prone to spontaneity. Kagome on the other hand was much more passive, but always supportive. Often more than not, Eri would initiate an exciting adventure with her trusty, but quite sidekick friend. Despite only knowing each other for only about two and a half years, they were the best of friends.

"How do you think you did on that math quiz?" Eri chuckled, nudging the girl in the side playfully.

"I hope I did okay… I spent a good three hours last night studying but-" Kagome sighed only to be interrupted.

"By that, you mean staring at the same page for so long, the numbers become squiggles and you fall asleep?" the short haired girl laughed knowingly.

"…shut up. You know me too well. Anyway… What I was saying was that it felt like the material that he told us to study was completely different than what was _actually_ on the test…" Kagome again sighed, though it was with more dramatics and humor.

"You better have done well, because I totally cheated off of you on the second page…"

"Eri!" she whispered angrily, pushing her friend off her arm.

"What can I say? It was totally impossible…" Eri laughed as she skipped a few paces ahead, out of reach from the wrath of her friend. However, Kagome had predicted her escape, and started to run after the lovable traitor. Her prey turned around to face her, sticking out her tongue as she ran backwards—

-and backed into a poor student. In a tumble of books and loose papers, the two high school girls stumbled and hit the ground. When Kagome caught up, she was glad to note that no skin had been torn on the pavement.

"Eri, I swear, you need to look where you're going for once." She said with the loving scorn of a worried mother.

"You know I don't like to think and plan ahead…" Eri laughed, but it was tinged with regret. "Uh… hey, s-sorry about that." She muttered, turning to the other girl who was the unfortunate victim of her energetic personality.

"…It's fine." She replied in an extremely quiet voice. Despite the fact that it was the summer semester, she was wearing the long sleeved winter version of their school's uniform. Curiously, Kagome couldn't place a name on the girl, either, which was a very strange thing. Although their school was large, Kagome's memory for recalling names was notable. Combined with the fact that this stranger wasn't dressed as the rest of the students….

"…..are you new to this school?" she said, voicing her thoughts as she bent down to help her collect the dropped items. The girl nodded, causing inky black locks to fall in front of her face. All in all, she was pretty adorable in a sort of grown-up way. Her hair was cut in a hime style, with the straight bangs and short forelocks, yet the main body of it cascaded down her back gracefully. With a bit of a pout, Kagome noted that her bust was much fuller than hers, despite being thinner and leaner than herself.

All three of them proceeded to pick up the books in an awkward silence, until Eri, being the hyper girl she was, overcame that nervousness and broke the barrier.

"Say, why don't we take you out somewhere nice as an apology, since you're new and stuff. We could show you one of our haunts and induct you into our little group?"

"Group?" Kagome echoed with curiosity. "It's really just us two … and Yuka and Ayumi occasionally, if they're not off with their boyfriends…." She frowned. The two absent girls had hit the boy-crazy stage, unfortunately. While Yuka had a different boy every week, Ayumi had found a nice guy and had been going stead for roughly half a year now – that half a year being the beginning of the current school year, that is.

"Uh-" the stranger began to say, only to be cut off by Eri.

"Oh HEY!" she exclaimed, before starting to giggle. "Here I am making plans, and I don't even know your name!"

"S-Sango…." The beautiful girl muttered, slightly startled by Eri's seemingly endless enthusiasm.

"Great! Now that we know your name, we should go to Micky Dee's and get some burgers together. My treat, naturally." She said, grinning as she stood.

Kagome only sighed, a smile on her lips. How typical. She extended a hand out to Sango and gave her back the papers she had collected. Eri followed suit, and returned the book to the new girl, all the while looking expectantly at her.

"…um… sure." She answered the (demand)… offer to hang out together as she traded the materials back into her messenger bag for a cell-phone. "Let me just, ah, tell my guardian…"

"…you get used to it." Kagome laughed. Eri was fun, but it was somewhat stressful if you weren't used to her go-to-it attitude.

"I heard that." The energetic girl pouted, only to have her face morph into one of insight and glee. "I'll call up Yuka and Ayumi in the meantime to see if they can go. The more the merrier!"

Kagome smiled as the two girls carried on their conversations on their respective phones.

Tonight was looking like it would be fun.

* * *

Roughly twenty minutes later, Sango, Kagome, Eri, Ayumi and her boyfriend, Hojo, arrived at the closest Mc Donald's. It was a fun place to go, cheap American food, fun atmosphere, and fast service. For a casual hangout after school, it was the ideal place to go and just sit and talk.

"So then I ran into her, (quite literally), and now she's part of the group!" Eri smiled, nudging the shoulder of the blushing girl next to her.

"H-hi." Sango said, looking at the couple across the booth from her. Kagome had opted in pulling up a chair so that they could all sit together without having three to a bench and being squished.

Ayumi frowned at her shyness. "Eri. You scaring the poor girl." She chuckled with gentleness in her voice. Hojo echoed the laugh and shook his head in the humor of it all. "So are you new to Tokyo? Your dialect seems a bit more formal than what we're used to."

"Ah.. yes, actually." Sango replied, the tint in her cheeks fading to an adorable shade of pink that elegantly matched her eye-shadow. "But my, um, formality comes from my father… and, well, because it's the first time I have spoken with you all."

Eri put her arm around the new girl. "We don't mind or anything!" she giggled. "It's so damned –cute- to listen to, anyway." It may have seemed odd to be so physically affectionate to the newcomer, but it was just like Eri to be so forward. She wasn't one to half-ass anything, really. "So!" she exclaimed, "I have a shit ton of work to do tonight, but seeing as it's Friday… do you guys want to have a sleepover tomorrow night? We could go shopping Sunday togeth-Oh! How about the Ten-Nine? SANGO. Oh!" Eri yipped, grabbing the girl next to her by the shoulders. "We _have_ to take you out shopping now. I mean, Shibuya is _the spot_ for _fashion!_"

Hojo outright laughed at the woman's antics. "Count me out… on both accounts. No makeover-sleepover nail painting parties and shop-till you drop days for me. Besides, I think my mom wanted me to run some errands for her this weekend."

Eri shot him a look, but then stuck her tongue out in a very childish manner. "Well, we don't want any icky boys anyway, right Sango dear?" she said as she played with her new friend's long hair.

Said new friend looked over at Kagome with fear in her eyes that clearly said: "Help me."

"Hey, I got the treatment too." Kagome replied to the unspoken plea with a bit of a chuckle, holding up her hands in surrender. "She'll calm down after a few days, but until then, you're going to be pampered like a _hime-sama._"

"Well… fuck." Sango attempted to pout, but there was a trace of a grin in her face.

"Fuck? Fuck?" Eri jumped slightly, aghast that such a word came out of the pretty girl, causing the whole table to erupt in giggles yet again.

_..this is the life_, Kagome thought as giggles seeped through her system.

"_Ano…_ speaking of shopping, would you all like to visit my guardian's boutique? It's a pretty strange place, if you ask me, but I think you all would enjoy it." Sango shyly suggested once the laughter died down.

"Sure!" Ayumi smiled warmly. "Where is it?"

"Not too far from here, actually." Sango answered happily.

"Well, we'll sleep over Yuka's apartment. It's closer, and probably bigger than anyone else's place… no offense, but her mom's loaded! Plus, since she skipped out this time, it's the least she can do to host another girls' night. I mean, it's not like she dislikes doing it either – her and her mom love pampering and relaxing."

"She's loaded?" Sango questioned. It wasn't out of jealousy or any other ill intent, but rather just simple curiosity.

"Yup!" Eri answered, even though it wasn't directed to her. "You know how the Gap's Japanese headquarters is here?"

"N-no?"

"Welp, she's one of the main designer slash ambassador of sorts for them who reps Japan… y'know, penthouse, trips to San Francisco for meetings…"

"It's not as glorious as you make it out to be, Eri…" Ayumi blushed, feeling slightly weird about talking about someone who wasn't there.

"Pssht. Glorious or not, I want to be that fucking glamorous when I am an adult, that's fer sure." Eri giggled. "Whether I have to climb a ton of stairs to get there, or of I just have to marry rich, I don't really care."

Hojo suddenly turned and tapped his girlfriend on the shoulder. "Are we going shopping today or tomorrow? You have to watch over your little brother tonight."

"Auugh! You're right. Why don't you guys go on ahead to your folks shop today, and we'll do the Ten-Nine center tomorrow?"

Eri stroked her chin dramatically, earning a giggle from Kagome. "….hnn….. fine. Just, uh, can you call Yuka for me and arrange for tomorrow night's little outing and shit?"

"Sure thing." Ayumi smiled, pulling out her cell phone.

"Allllrighty then." Kagome said as she began to gather their trash and stand up. "Are we off, then?" she asked.

"Sure, sure. I'll lead the way." Sango smiled.

….this seemed like it could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

The store was a lot more hip and stylish than Eri had originally thought. When Sango said, "Antique", she had pictured dusty vases, moth eaten kimonos, and old punch telephones that you had to spin the dial in order to enter a number. She hadn't thought it would be like… this. The ceiling lights were of the hanging type, and pretty ornate, too. They were encased with ornate blue glass that shaded the direct light from the bulb, in order to create interesting patterns on the tiled slate floor. They sold a variety of clothing, artifacts, and decorative items. Blouses modeled after traditional clan patterns were displayed next to a very modern and stylish kimono that was paired with a rather austere style of obi. All in all, the place was an upscale decorating boutique for those who had an eye for traditional Japanese beauty. The cheaper trinkets they did have were of the gift-y kind. Fun voodoo kits that included a history of mythology revolving around magic that used pieces of someone to inflict good or evil. A "how to style bonsai" book. A collection of artful photographs of Japan's coastline.

"Wow." Was all Eri could say.

"I hope that means you like it…" Sango blushed. After having such a wonderful time together at the restaurant, she wanted to make them smile.

"Like it? I love it. Not quite my style, 'cause I'm more into the new-age stuff, but this place is absolutely _sweet_. Like, if my mom ever makes me go shopping for traditional wear ever again, I'm definitely coming here. I hated those dusty, old, stiff-and-formal places. This is much more up my alley… and great location, too."

Sango beamed at the praise.

Meanwhile, Kagome had taken to wandering the store with interest. Due to the fact that her family was born and raised into tending the Meiji Shrine for generations, she had quite an eye for the traditional. If only she wasn't stuck wearing _miko_ garbs all the time, she would totally not mind sporting that cute, navy blue _yukata_ over there…

"May I help you, miss?" an older, male voice called from behind a nearby counter.

"Hn? Oh. I'm just browsing. Sango brought us here." Kagome bowed politely to the elder man.

"Ahhh… see anything you like? I know it doesn't seem like the usual place for teenagers…" He trailed off, looking clearly distraught about his shop. It was a risky move to put a place so rooted in the 'old', in a setting so focused on the 'now'.

"Oh! No, no. I actually love this sort of stuff; my grandfather, mother, and I all sort of work at Meiji Shrine so…" Kagome said with a polite smile. The man in fact reminded her much of her grandfather. Same Confucius-style mustache, same hunched over stance.

"Is that so?" He brightened visibly, relieved to know that the younger generation found his venue interesting. She nodded, and went back to ambling about the store. A book caught her eye, "_Incantations for a Girls' Night"._

_….Well I'll say…_

Upon skimming it, the little instruction book seemed like the perfect thing for the get-together the next night. Some of the chapters were titled, "How to Summon the Dead, (Not really)", and were all about party tricks or scary stories to frighten and entertain others. It was a joke book, but the "spells" seemed pretty hilarious. "_Spin thrice in a circle. If this doesn't make you dizzy, spin more. If you can't get dizzy, simply get the friend drunk first. This trick relies the sensation of falling…"_

Knowing how much of a closet scaredy-cat Eri was….. she just had to get it.

_"Find an old thing… it can be anything from a rusted pocket watch to an old pipe to even a hairbrush, and claim it to be the belonging of someone who is dead. Place it in the center of the ring of guests and repeat this phrase, each time making different hand motions. TIP: if you cannot come up with believable hand signs, simply act as if you were drawing the first few basic katakana you learned, or even the American alphabet."_

Looking up from her book, she happened to gaze upon a rather tattered looking katana that appeared roughly five hundred or so years old, judging from the style of the hand guard. Hm. The price tag was surprisingly cheap, considering how nice the sheath looked to be. Upon pulling it out, though, she found the blade to be nearly rusted into oblivion. So that was why it was so inexpensive.

"_...old thing…"_

_"…it can be anything…."_

_"…belonging of someone who is dead…"_

Although she wasn't known for being the conniving, evil type, Kagome's mind was planning a very mischievous little plan. When the night ended, she could always give the sword to her grandfather as he, (as Eri would put it), "ate that shit up" whenever he found anything that looked old.

With the two items in hand, she made her way over to the elderly man, a Cheshire cat-like grin adorning her features.

…this was going to be fun.


	3. Golden

Many, many thanks to _**kokoronagomu**_, _**Warm-Amber92**_, _**ArchAngel-Kagome**_, _**HopelessRomantic183**_, **3lue 3utterfly**, and _**Tears of Eternal Darkness**_ for the wonderful reviews. I apologize for how slow-paced the story seems to be going, but I'm trying to put some emphasis on how normal and boring life is/was before this little event happens. I got the idea from Stephen King's _Needful Things_, which uses the same sort of concept. For about a good hundred pages, it is just life in a small town following people who are doing seemingly insignificant things. I absolutely –love- that effect, so bear with me as I try it out some. I'll be drawing as much as I can on my knowledge of Japan and the atmosphere I observed when I was there.

Without further ado…

* * *

Sunday was a relatively slow day. Kagome woke up unusually early, considering it was the weekend. After a quick breakfast of pickled greens and an egg, she relaxed in her room and got some quality work done while the laundry ran. Geometry homework was a pain, but the girl was able to complete it and even start on next week's assignments. Once this was done, she simply surfed the web on her older desktop for roughly two or three hours. Lunchtime rolled around, and as her grandfather and mother were out working at Meiji Shrine, she was the one who made a simple meal of _onigiri_ for her and her eleven-year old brother, Souta. They ate in silence as they idly watched the news out of sheer boredom.

"…_have seen unusual earthquake activity out in the ocean areas near Nagasaki. Specifically, it is coming from just about four miles out of Hirado's coastline-"_

Click.

"_-check out our special deal on watermelon! The perfect thing to celebrate with your friends as the summer ends…and remember!—Every day is great at your June-"_ the commercial sang as Souta switched the channels.

Click.

"_B-but Takeda-san… if we increase the power level now, the reactor will become unstable!—Shut up Mitsuka! I know that! But it's the only way to defeat the Rhy-" _Souta turned off the television and sighed dramatically.

"Sis. Why is it that even though we have about… er… three hundred or so channels to watch with our satellite plan, we can't even find a single one that's, you know, interesting?"

Kagome shrugged and stretched, still getting the kinks out from hunching over her desk. "I honestly don't know. It must be one of the seven mysteries of the world." She sarcastically replied as her voice was distorted by the strain of her stretch. With a sigh, she flopped backwards onto the _tatami _mats, staring blankly at the ceiling. Why did she have to naturally wake up so early…? There was absolutely nothing to do now but wait for the call from Yuka so they could go and-

The sound of a catch pop song broker her train of thought. What was tha- oh right, her phone. Wait. Her _phone!_

"_Moshi moshi!"_ Kagome answered happily.

"So… you ready for today?" Yuka answered without even giving her name.

"Heelllll yes. I've been so freaking bored." Souta watched with mild fascination as his sister, who had been borderline lifeless, suddenly find boundless energy. With a detached sigh, he turned back on the television. This only caused Kagome to pout and walk back up the stairs to her bedroom, trying to find some quiet. That movie about alien invasions was just… loud. "So… what's the plan for today?"

"Well, we're going to meet by _Hachiko_, and head over to the Ten-nine. On the way, we were going to hit a bunch of boutiques and stuff. So… yeah, bring your wallet 'cause we're _shopping_, shopping. Not just, you know, window shopping."

"_Fine_,"Kagome giggled. "I might not be buying too much stuff, though."

"That's fine," her phone laughed, "You can just judge everyone's outfits and stuff."

"Righto. So… how 'bout an hour or so? I need to get ready."

"Fine with me."

"Alright! See you there, Kagome."

"Bye Yuka."

Click…. Sigh. Now to find out how to kill an hour's worth of time. Another heavy sigh, and her blue, bored eyes fell upon the old sword on her desk. It was a beautiful piece of art, despite it's obvious age. Even though the man at the store said the blade had rusted so badly that it couldn't be unsheathed, it was… nice. Upon taking in her hands, Kagome found that the hilt was wrapped in fine leather, even though it had frayed with time. Too bad it didn't ope-

It slid easily in her hand. The blade itself wasn't quite rusted, but it looked like it had been hit against stone for years after years. The edge had basically been obliterated. Kagome doubted it would even cut paper, but hey, at least it did open.

Score for Kagome!

But wait… how will she take it to Yuka's place? Kagome knew she couldn't just tote it around the shopping mall, that would be silly and possibly illegal. Chuckling at their poor planning, she sent a text asking Yuka to change the meeting spot to the apartment. That way, everyone could drop off their things before going out for the day.

"_lol ur right! come on over" _read the reply.

With the sword in a box and book, change of clothes for the 'morrow, and toothbrush in hand, Kagome arrived at Yuka's apartment with a smile. The rest of the day was rather uneventful, but she didn't mind much. It was refreshing just to have some simple fun after the hellish test that week. Ayumi bought a nice little number for a date she was planning to take Hojo on. Yuka got some cute guy's number. When they went out for coffee at the Starbucks that overlooked Scramble Crossing, Sango got hit on the mega-hot barista whose name was apparently Miroku. Nothing particularly interesting happened to Kagome. Once or twice she could have sworn that someone was watching her, but the feeling vanished as soon as she thought about it. Deciding it was only paranoia from being in large crowds, she let go of it entirely.

That night, all of the girls had gathered on the living room floor with smiles all around, talking about the day's events with giggles interlaced in their fast-paced speech. Soda was being passed around as they prattled on and on as the typical high-school girls that they were.

"Man, that guy at Starbucks was… _spectacular._" Eri laughed, nudging Sango, (for the umpteenth time). By now, the new girl was a familiar face in the group of friends, despite it only being roughly thirty-two hours since they met. Sango blushed furiously, indignation clearly written all over her reddened cheeks.

"He was _clearly_ just a womanizer, and I was just another pretty face to him, nothing more." She retorted. This torture had gone incessantly on since they ran into the fairly attractive barista. Such was the way of high-school girls.

"If you were that insignificant, why did he, like, only serve you? And why did he stare at you the whole entire time, if you're just another girl? Well, newsflash: you're fucking HOT." Yuka sneered, poking poor Sango in the chest.

"Wha-?" she blushed even redder, looking at Kagome for some sort of salvation. Seeing the cue, the quiet one in the group coughed loudly.

"Now, now, let's not frighten away the new girl. Seriously guys, you all are being so… so… highschooler-ish." Kagome said as she tried to bap Eri away from the slightly mortified Sango. "I have something really interesting for tonight…."

"Oh?" Eri jumped away from her victim and knelt in front of Kagome like an excited kindergartner. "What is it?"

"Yuka, can you get that box I dropped off earlier?" Kagome smiled, happy that her plan successfully distracted the hyperactive girls away from the whole boy-buisness. Sango sent a sneaky grateful smile to her behind Eri's back.

"…uh.. sure." Yuka muttered with confusion as she rose from the cushions on the floor. She artfully dodged the bags of chips and bottles of soda were scattered about as she made her way to her bedroom to fetch the sword. To her, it was just an oddly shaped box, however, as she knew nothing of its contents. In the meantime, Kagome fished through her yellow backpack to find a paperback book she had bought the previous day.

"….Is that-" Sango began.

"Oh my GO-" Eri interjected with a snort.

"Here you go Kago-" Yuka said as she returned.

"Tada!" Kagome giggled as she held up the book for everyone to see.

"Wow. Just… wow." Yuka laughed, handing her the box.

"Now then, I thought this one would be good, since you all are gaga for scary stories… why don't we try summoning a ghost or something?" Kagome giggled as she leafed through the pages, trying to find the appropriate summoning spell. "Aha! Here it is. Saying the following Latin incantation, followed by an old Estonian to call the dead, bind a spirit to a belonging of theirs, using it to communicate with the soul."

"That sounds… creepy." Ayumi timidly said, even though she was subconsciously scooting closer to Kagome.

"But we don't have an artifa-… OH." Yuka laughed at herself. "That's what that box is, amirite?"

"Yup!" Kagome smiled as she ripped the tape off the cardboard and carefully extracted the sword from within.

"That's… wow." Sango sighed as she took in the beauty of the blade's austere design. "Wait, did you get that from Myoga's shop? I think I've seen that before. Didn't open, though." She reached for it and attempted to unsheathe the weapon, but as she suspected, it didn't budge.

"Odd," Kagome said as Sango handed it back to her. "I can get it to open, abet, with a bit of a tug… see?"

"Wow, the blade is pretty beaten up after all." Sango said as she ran her thumb over the destroyed edge.

"So we're going to summon a samurai or something?" Eri asked, her excitement evident.

"Hell yes. And if it doesn't work, or if it does… it's going to my grandpa as a present." Kagome laughed. "He loves this sort of junk."

Yuka returned to her cushion, but suddenly burst into a round of giggles, earning her a questioning look from the rest of the girls. "I… I just hope this ghost-guy is _hot _instead of, you know... zombie-like."

"Pfffft, that's… that's just what you would say, Yuka." Ayumi laughed.

"Hey!"

"Alright, alright… shall we start?" Kagome again said to distract them all from the boy-talk. Honestly, their hormones must be rampaging…

"Sure." Yuka smiled. "Let me just turn off the lights first for effect.

Once dark, Kagome used her cell phone to read off the complicated words that were carefully written out in _katakana_ for the average Japanese citizen. The words themselves were quite beautiful and poetic sounding. _Probably half of the show is in the words, not what they actually mean,_ Kagome mused as the last syllable ran off her tongue. She raised the sword to the ceiling, waiting with baited breath for something to happen.

Nothing did.

"…." All of them were silent, eyes focused on the faint glimmer of the city lights on the metal of the blade.

"BOO." Yuka whispered, causing Ayumi to jump nearly out of her skin.

"Y-you jerk!" she yipped as she took a playful swing at the prankster.

"Hmm… welp, that didn't work." Kagome said as she flipped through the book more. Something caught her eye that nearly made her head burst with laughter. Tears of mirth soon dripped from her eyes as she gripped her diaphragm, trying to catch her breath in between the giggles.

"What, WHAT, _WHAT?_" Eri said, bouncing as she was sitting.

"It's… It's a spell to summon an Incubus."

"…."

"Let's do it." Yuka laughed, causing all of them to be thrown into laughter as intense as Kagome's.

Soon, all of five of them were sitting in a circle to replicate the points of a pentagram, since they weren't quite willing to draw on Yuka's nice white carpet. This time, the words weren't in any specific language. In fact, some of the syllables almost sounded like growls and bays of various animals. In contrast to the short and sweet little ghost spell, this was complicated and long, spanning a few paragraphs of text.

Halfway through the spell, a sound like a scream broke Kagome's voice.

"W-What in the FUCK?" Yuka shouted as she jumped up on reflex.

"Was that a smoke alarm?" Ayumi said with a stutter like shivering in the cold.

"Y-yeah. I think the power went out or something." Kagome answered as an adrenaline rush sent her into near euphoria. "It sounds like that at my house too.."

"M-must be a blackout. It is summer after all… too many people plugging in fans and stuff." Sango said as she tried to rub the goose bumps off of her arms.

"Wh-what do we do now?" Ayumi said with less of a stutter, though fear was still evident in her voice.

Kagome was just about to answer when out of the corner of her eye, something caught her attention. Immediately, her adrenaline kicked in full gear, causing the sensation of falling and takeoff on an airplane all at once. She turned slowly, only to open her mouth in a silent scream at what she saw.

Large amber eyes danced a mere inch from in front of her face. They were like fire, glowing with an intensity that was utterly hypnotizing, despite being so utterly terrifying. The effect was much like how the light of an angler fish dazes its prey before the kill. Kagome found that she was paralyzed with fear, unable to even take a breath. Nothing in her experience could have prepared her for this singular moment. This was true terror. This was the equivalent to watching a tidal wave crest just above one's head. This was seeing the trigger of a gun, aimed straight at one's heart being pulled. These were the eyes of the one that would kill her. This would be the last thing she would glimpse before the end. This…

…was not how things should have gone… it was supposed to be a parlor trick… a show, and nothing more. A joke. Harmless. Funny. Proof that she wasn't as timid as her friends thought she was.

The thing, her executioner's mouth turned upwards in a smile, revealing fangs. Its hot breath made the soft, tiny hairs on her neck flutter, causing her to shudder. Once the tremor started, she found that her body wouldn't stop shaking in pure fright. The flaming eyes started to fade as the darkness of the room started consume her vision. The black candles she had lit extinguished in a soft, yet icy breeze. She could feel herself blacking out. The sensation of weightlessness… falling over backwards. The firmness of a female chest. Her name being called by a familiar voice.

Then nothing.


	4. Asleep or Awake?

"A-Are you alright? He-hey…" she heard. With a start that evidently was a large enough twitch to cause those around her to jump back, she sat up, looking around the room with fright. To her relief, there was nothing there that was frightening. No eyes. No darkness. Just her friends and Yuka's mom hovering around her with worry.

"Y-yeah… I guess I was so scared that I, uh, just fainted." Kagome said, blushing.

"Are you sure you're okay, honey?" Yuka's mom, Kaori, said as she place a comforting hand on the high school girl's forehead.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Phew… I think it just was because I haven't been sleeping well. As lame as it sounds, I've been staying up studying lately…"

"You mean that instead of sleeping, you studied for that bullshi-… err, sorry Ms. Hanamura," Eri coughed, realizing that there was in adult in the room, "But you chose to kill yourself studying for a test that legitimately isn't passable?" she chastised, poking Kagome in the arm.

"I know, I know…"

"Well, you girls best be getting to bed, then. You need your sleep for tomorrow; it is a school day after all." Ms. Hanamura said with a hint of scorn in her voice.

"Yes mom. We're going to bed now…" Yuka said with a sigh. All of the girls got in their sleeping bags and the lights went off. It was quiet, and somewhat awkward of an atmosphere.

…_so much for a fun surprise… I bought it to scare them, but only ended up scaring myself and ruining the fun…. I'm such an idiot…_

Despite being so tired, Kagome found herself unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, visions of those yellow, enflamed eyes haunted her vision. Once, she was dozing off, but it felt like there was _something_ in the room with her, and it wasn't just her friends. No, it didn't feel… right.

_Now I know how the victim in a horror movie feels…_ she thought, suppressing a slap-happy giggle. She was so tired that it was starting to physically hurt. The beginnings of a migraine were forming, a rather nasty one at that. With a sigh, she turned over in her sleeping bag and gazed out the far wall. It was entirely windows, made for gazing out at the city's lights much like how Kagome was doing. She shuddered, thinking about what she had seen. It was a pair of golden eyes, round and angry like some sort of feral animal, yet the body that it was attached to was the silhouette of a man. Did she envision the devil? Maybe it was an incubus. That brought a snort to her lips, which she covered as a cough. It seemed rather rude to not only ruin the mood, but laugh at it as well…. Even though the whole event was rather laughable in retrospect.

The city lights twinkled peacefully. As much as New York is called "the city that never sleeps", Tokyo and all of its sectors were much more active than the Big Apple. Her eyes fell to half mast, and the lights blurred, turning into starbursts of colour. One building in particular had yellow lights. They were harmless before, but when she looked at them like this, they suddenly seemed to take the shape of those horrible golden eyes…. Floating with menace…..

Kagome promptly shut her eyes, willing the spectral image to go away as she turned around and hid under the blankets, waiting for the sun to come up.

* * *

That morning, all five of them got ready for school in silence, too tired to carry on any conversation. By the time they were a few blocks away from their school, however, they were all chatting about Kagome's "incident" as they called it. While Eri ate up the event, making puns and playful jokes to Kagome, Sango took up a concerned stance, asking how she felt every minute or so. No matter what their intentions were, listening to the constant prattle that early in the morning after another night of no sleep was not conducive to her feeling better. No one had expected her to be so… effeminately frail like that. Sure, she was quiet and girly, but… still. Even she herself couldn't quite believe that she just simply _fainted_ like that. With a heavy sigh, she started her first class… and right away she could tell that today was not going to fun.

Of course it was on the fourth floor, which was naturally the highest in the building. Climbing the stairs felt like dragging a dead body across quicksand as her tired body screamed in protest. Of course her first class had to be the subject that she was worst at. Math just didn't come naturally to her. Asians being good at math? Stereotypes be damned, that sure as hell wasn't true with her. It took hour and hours of deciphering the strange glyphs to find measurements that weren't going to be of any use to her other than an answer on a test. It just seemed so pointless to calculate the degree of an angle on a triangle. It was just a triangle for ye gods sakes—it wasn't going to be a magical number that would earn her thousands in a career. It was just a fucking nummmberrr…

Yuka opened the sliding door and the girls followed suite, going to their seats. The arrangement of the desks was traditional boy-girl in alphabetical order, so she was placed away from her friends. Not that she minded, at the moment. For once, she was thankful not to have them near. Kagome loved them dearly, but she was fucking tired of their constant chatter. With a tired sigh, she rubbed her eyes and took her place near the window. It was light out, but she didn't mind all that much. It was nice to just gaze out and admire the view during lectures. The professor took role call, and dove straight into the next lesson.

"Today we're going to go back to basic proofs, because most of you did not perform too well on that section of the test. Do you remember these?" He turned as he spoke and wrote out an example on the board.

_Given:_

_Segment AD bisects segment BC.  
Segment BC bisects segment AD. _

_Prove:_

_Triangles ABM and DCM are congruent. _

Just trying to comprehend it made Kagome's sleep deprived head hurt more. With a heavy sigh, she slumped forward in her chair, resting her head on folded arms. The chalk diagram and the writing became blurry lines as she started to doze off. Her whole body ached and yearned for sleep, and for the first time, she fell asleep in class.

"Higurashi."

"Kagome!"

* * *

_**Kagome**_

His eyes flew open. Awake. Asleep, or dead?—he didn't know. One moment the cries of battle and the stench of flesh and forest burning flooded his vision and nostrils, the next, he was sitting in an odd bench of sorts that had a table built into it. There were thirty or so adolescent humans staring at him, as well as one adult that just oozed authority.

"Higurashi, there will be no sleeping in my class." The adult male said as he stared daggers right at him.

Higurashi? That wasn't his name. But what… was his name? For the life of him, he couldn't recall it. However, he instinctively knew that this 'Higurashi' did not belong to him. He felt his brows nit in confusion. With curiosity and slight fear, he looked about the room. It was sterile and uniform, with little tables that had miniature desks attached to them. What was the purpose of this room? One of the walls was open, but on closer inspection, the hole had been cut with purpose and had some sort of barrier over it. Outside, he could see buildings that were slender, yet tall as mountains. Even from his somewhat limited viewpoint, he could tell that there were thousands of people outside. Something told him that this wasn't natural. This wasn't where he was supposed to be.

"Kagome?" the man said.

A girl that sat in the row in front of him stood and came to his table, concern clearly written on her face. Her hair was cut in that of a noble's fashion, yet it was not bound and styled like that of court. Odd. And again with the strange name. Higurashi Kagome. Who was that? Did they mistake him for this person? His hands clenched in preparation for the slightest move of aggression. "Are you feeling okay, Kagome?" the girl asked, leaning on the desk. She looked back at the older man and then back at him, confusion now evident on her visage.

"…I-….." he began, only to cut himself off, nearly choking on his own saliva. The voice that had come from his lips was distinctly female. He coughed, and put a hand to his chest. It was soft, as if he had breasts… which was odd to him. Was he supposed to be male? Why was it that this body felt…. Wrong?

"Sensei, I'm going to take her to the nurse, if that's okay… she fainted last night at my house. Something might be wrong…" Another girl said from across the room as she too rose and came to his desk. This one had hair that was cut in a boy's style, but it seemed to be acceptable here, as there were others with the same style of short hair. The young woman put a hand on his…. Well, _her_ shoulder. Shakily, he allowed himself to be led by the princess-ish girl to another room. The hallways to get there had many doors, all leading to rooms that seemed identical to the one he had come from.

When they reached their destination, he found that this room was smaller, and had raised futons on metal frames lined in a neat row. A woman bid them welcome and asked what was wrong.

"Well, last night, we were sitting around talking and she just fainted. I think that she's sort of dazed from lack of sleep or something… but I'm worried that it might be something more serious." The girl with the noble's hair said as she rubbed his-her shoulder.

The nurse bid him to lay and rest. For a second, the urge to run tingled in his extremities. He had no idea who these people were after all. How could he trust them? That being said, there was little he could do at the moment. Running blindly away without having knowledge of his surroundings wasn't a smart strategy. Hesitantly, he lay on the bedding.

"I don't want you to walk home,"

…_as if I knew where that was…_

"So I'll call your mom and ask for her to pick you up." The older female said with a gentle smile. Mother? A sense of sadness and longing overcame him. Why did he have the feeling that his mother was gone? Had _his_ mother died? Realising that the nurse wanted an answer out of him, he responded with a simple affirmative. What else was there to say? It wasn't like he could just bluntly ask, 'who am I', when everyone around him clearly know who this person was. Kagome… this body was Kagome's. Then… who was… he? Was he not supposed to be here?

"In the meantime, why don't you rest, Kagome. Just close your eyes and relax."

Just close these eyes that weren't his. Close them. To sleep, or to die? The latter felt much more… real. Somewhere in his subconscious he knew that he shouldn't be alive. The thought was morbid, but it felt familiar. The lids slid slowly shut as he took a final breath, and let his consciousness slip away.


	5. Just a Girl

Something prodded her shoulder, causing her to be aware that she fell asleep. With a bit of a start, she let out an embarrassed 'meep', and awoke fully, all clouds of sleepiness gone. Oh geeze, had she really fallen asleep in class? What will the professor say? But wait… this wasn't her classroom. It was the infirmary! What was she doing here? Why was her mom here? What happened?

"Rise and shine, Kagome. Let's go home." Her mom said, patting her shoulder gently. Kagome only sat up numbly, taking in the view of the room she suddenly found herself in. It was dim, as the shades were drawn back presumably for her benefit as she slept. That was great and all, and she appreciated the gesture, but one thing was glaring at her straight in the face…

…how the hell did she get here?

Deciding not to make a scene she simply swung her legs off of the bed and stood, smiling at her mom. "Thanks for coming…"

"Oh course, dear." Her mom smiled weakly. It was quite obvious that she was concerned for her daughter. They walked out of the school in silence; the taxi cab already at the front entrance, waiting for Mrs. Higurashi's return. The drive to the doctor's office was uneventful, but thankfully, it was not a long trip. Once there, the two women exited the vehicle and made their way to the lobby. After taking their name, they sat in the waiting room for all of five minutes before a nurse opened the door bidding them to follow. After passing a few rooms, the teen found herself in a sophisticated examination room, complete with a bed and a few monitors whose functions were unknown to her.

"Just lay here, and the doctor will be with you shortly." The nurse said after doing routine checks like temperature and blood pressure.

"Thank you." Mrs. Higurashi said.

Another ten minutes later, a knock was heard on the door, and in walked a woman clad in a lab coat and fashionable pencil skirt. Her hair was bobbed short like Eri's, but it was less tomboy styled and had more of a Chelsea-girl feel to it. The bangs were short, while the body of the hair was angled down: short in the back, longer near the face. "Hello," she said with a smile. Her voice was rich and smooth, like dark chocolate. "I hate to be so blunt, but formalities are lost on me… call me Yura. Now then, what seems to be the problem… Kagome, was it?"

"Ah.." the teen began, a bit startled. "I seem to be blacking out as of recent… I fainted last night, and today in class, I thought I fell asleep, but I don't remember ever going down to the infirmary…"

"Do you mind doing an MRI today?"

* * *

A few hours and a very expensive and pointless brain scan later, mother and daughter walked out of the building with matching faces of worry and concern. Was Kagome sick? What was causing this ailment? The teen's mother was exceptionally terrified of anything befalling her only daughter, as the family had lost their father and husband roughly ten years prior. Trying to hide her emotion by adverting her eyes to the street ahead of them, Mrs. Higurashi's hand groped for her daughters as they walked. Upon finding it, her daughter accepted the hold and returned it with a slight squeeze of her own.

"Mom…" she began, having absolutely no idea what to say at a moment like this.

"Let's go to the Starbucks in the Scrabble Crossing… the view will be nice this time of day." The older woman said, clearly trying desperately to cheer the air around them.

"Mom… I'm sorry." Kagome whispered, her voice breaking with emotions that she herself couldn't exactly identify. Everything was… so overwhelming at the moment. As soon as the words passed her lips, her mother came to a halt beside her, causing her arm to jerk by the sudden loss of momentum.

"Don't you dare apologize, Kagome." Her mom whispered just, if not more so, as quietly. It could barely be heard over the bustle of other pedestrians and cars going past them. The two were still as the world turned around them. "Yo-" she paused, trying to grasp words she was having trouble voicing. "You have nothing to apologize for. This is a fluke. You're not ill, you just haven't slept enough."

"But what if-" Kagome began, dropping her held hand.

"Don't you DARE think of the possibilities. You. Are not. Ill. If you are, we'll just have to deal with it when we confirm it. But, for now, please… please let's just not dwell on it, Kagome. I… I c-can't deal with another-"

"Okay." The high school girl interrupted, not wanting her mother to continue down the sad path the conversation had suddenly taken. "Let's… go to the Starbucks, then."

Her mother smiled through glassy, tear filled eyes that had not spilled over. Again, she took her daughter's hand in her own, aged palm, giving it another loving squeeze. The two resumed walking, not wanting to confine themselves to the silence of a cab. Within the cage of a car, the world seemed separate, distant, and even more depressing. Outside, walking among the mass of people, life seemed much more tangible. The summer heat was a bother, sure, but it was peaceful to methodically walk side-by-side to their destination. Although nothing more was said on the ten-minute trip, they eased into a sense of security and harmony between them. Everything was normal; it was just a mother-daughter outing for a nice cup of joe, nothing more. There was no looming dark of uncharted territory and potential illness, it was simply just another day together.

Once reaching their destination, the two sat on the bar seats facing the window, watching as all of the cars stopped to let those traveling by foot cross in every direction. It was certainly a sight to see; it always gave Kagome the sense of being very, very small. If she was just one person in the crowd here, how big was Tokyo? Japan? The world? The universe? How was it that although there are thousands of planets out there, she ended up here in this space and time with these looks and thoughts? It was all very overwhelming and yet calming to think:

Despite this, I am special.

Her mother broke her out of her existential thoughts by asking about boys. As usual, Kagome avoided the awkward conversation by talking about her friends. Ayumi and Hojo were doing fine, she was really happy for them. Recently, Hojo had bought Ayumi a present and it was absolutely adorable to see two of her friends so happy. Oh! There was a new girl that she had just met, you might have seen her-… but in any case, uh, she was really nice and we should have her over…. Etc. etc. etc.…

Her mom smiled at the seemingly endless information Kagome could transfer in the span of roughly twenty minutes. As both of their paper cups became void of coffee, the two walked out of the shop with smiles on their faces that lasted the entire walk home.

Despite the coffee in her stomach and caffeine in her veins, the high school girl changed into her sleeping clothes upon reaching her room, feeling rather tired. It was a long walk after all, and the little sleep she had gotten the past week was seriously taking a toll on her system.

There was no way she could have some sort of ailment, other than her own stubbornness and unwillingness to sleep. Until now, that is. With a heavy sigh, she pulled the pink comforter over her shoulders and closed her eyes. Within ten minutes, the girl's chest was falling in a peaceful rhythm of sleep.


	6. Duality of One

It began with an awareness of self. It was different than the usual subconscious feeling of being alive. It was much different than being awake and existing without paying a mind to it, no, this was much like dreaming lucidly. She knew she was asleep. Perhaps the lack of quality REM time made it that much more intense? Kagome wasn't really sure.

Next came the actual dreaming.

There was smoke and ash, as if someone's house had caught fire down the street. She knew it wasn't a forest fire or campfire due to the smell of it. While there was the smell of burning wood, it also had the scent of burning man-made things like cloth…. And… hair? Flesh? Something in it made the scent seem very menacing. In fact, the very nature that she was able to smell in her dream unnerved her slightly. With a jolt, the girl tried to wake in vain. Her body just seemed to want to sleep more, which was completely understandable. Feeling resentful, but understanding of her own needs, she allowed herself to submerge in the dream completely.

Next came sound.

There was yelling, and a lot of it. The sound was similar to attending a sporting event, only instead of encouraging remarks or shouts of joy, these cries were similar to the ones echoing the halls during Kendo practice, sounds meant for intimidation. The cry of a blow landing.

Something wasn't right. This time, she willingly tried to focus on the dream. In a sensation much like water turning warm on one's hand under the flow of a faucet, the scene finally revealed itself to her dreaming eyes.

It was a battlefield, or what was left of it. What was once a well forested area was now an array of charred, broken stumps surrounded by even more charred and broken bodies.

No.

WAKE UP.

WAKE UP NOW.

WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP.

* * *

Just what happened last? Where was he before he could last remember? It was at that odd place with the little tables and young adults who wore the same sort of clothes, separated by gender. There was the master, who was older standing in the front of the room, talking about numbers and riddles that seemed almost like very intricate spells.

No. That wasn't where he was supposed to be.

Then… where? His conscious tried desperately to grasp on bits and pieces of his memories to pull together a complete story.

The first thing he recalled was smell.

It was the smell of a battle that he couldn't win. The smell of the enemy's scorched earth style of fighting. They called it 'cleansing'. He, and what was left of his army called it 'cruelty ', 'murder', 'senseless violence'. The smell of burning hair was what hurt his sensitive nose the most. The fact that it was pungent wasn't the issue; he dealt with strong scents all the time, it was part of life, having a superior nose than most. The issue was that some of the smells were _recognizable._ Sato, his second in command. He could smell the burning of his flesh as if it were right next to him, despite the fact that the corpse was well off into the distance, perhaps two miles or so behind him.

They had been flanked.

He remembered the sound of screams as the other side flanked them in the woods, torching everything around them preventing escape on both sides. It was better to die and kill off thousands of them than let the abominations live, so they thought. They sacrificed so many just to kill off three of his higher generals and get a shot at himself. Despicable. It was a disgrace to fight so animalistic. The great irony of it all was that 'animalistic', 'feral', and 'evil savages' was a large part of their military's campaign against them, yet there they were, slashing and hacking and burning like the "demons" they so hated.

He forced himself to remember the look of the place.

The forest in which he died.

That's right. He had died here in this quaint valley. He remembered an arrow lodging itself in his heart, and then all was blurred into oblivion.

…but this line of thought brought a bigger one to the forefront of his consciousness.

How was he conscious at the moment, if he had passed? Had he not passed on to the next life? Was there even a next life to go to? What if the fucking radicals were right? What if there was a heaven and a hell and he was stuck in a purgatory in-between for his sins?

But… what sins were those? Try as he may, he could not for the life of him recall anything more than the sight, sound, and smell of that one singular scene… and the strange room with the strange older man and youths. 'Kagome Higurashi'. Who was she?

More importantly… who was he?

Who was he?

WHAT WAS HIS NAME?

GODDAMIT. WHY COULDN'T HE REMEMBER?

_WAKE UP._

…_am I asleep? No. I... I am very much dead. That much I can recall vividly... _

_**WAKE UP NOW.**_

No.

Well, to be fair, he wasn't asleep… or was he? Despite his knowledge of being deceased, he felt the tug of sensations, the same things one feels as his/her consciousness is slowly coming to. His emotions gave a hearty lurch as he came to the sad realization that he _did not_ want to be dead, despite everything in his brain telling him that he was. With hope and remorse in his soul, he allowed himself to 'wake'. He would give anything to not feel dead.

_Anything_ to not go back to that _hell_ of a life.

….Kagome woke with a start, covered in sweat.


	7. You are Naïve and I am Nothing

When Kagome finally opened her eyes, she found herself unable to move for a good half of an hour, too stunned about the dream to get up and function properly. Her body felt foreign, as if her mind had suddenly crash landed into her body after flying about in dream-world for too long. Limbs numb and head light, she turned over to view the glowing red numbers of her alarm clock.

Midnight, exactly.

With a tired sigh, the high school girl rolled over to her back and stared at the ceiling aimlessly. She tried in vain to understand where the hell that nightmare came from, but nothing came to mind. It wasn't born of any horror movies or history lessons; rather, it felt as random as it was frightening.

All of a sudden, there was a terrible growl that nearly had poor Kagome in tears with fright… only to realize it was her own stomach protesting the lack of lunch and dinner. With a bit of a giggle at her own antics, she sat up and looked about the room, still clutching her comforter around her like a shield to her fears. Every shadow seemed to be menacing and macabre; the one from her desk lamp looked so much like that one burned corpse by the tree.

_Stop it… you're only freaking yourself out. Seriously. Even your younger brother isn't this much of a scared-y-cat._ She thought with a pout. Deciding to brave it rather than be unable to sleep due to starvation, the girl proudly swept her long legs from under the covers and snuck her feet into the soft slippers waiting on the floor. Wiggling her toes triumphantly, she stood up and made her way downstairs. It was still lightly frightening to walk down the creaky wooden stairs, but the promise of food urged her forward. She walked into the kitchen with a sigh, eyeing the cooking utensils with disdain.

Cooking.

Kagome did _not_ want to cook right now. Feeling particularly lazy, she padded over to the cabinet and pulled out a Styrofoam bowl of instant noodles.

Hnnnggg…..

The water could not boil fast enough. For ten agonizing minutes, the girl stared at the tea kettle, waiting for the first tiny peep of a whistle. Not wanting to wake the rest of the family up, she quickly grabbed the pot once it started to whisper its shrill warning and dumped the hot water into the bowl before re-covering it with the paper lid that was packaged with it.

Three minutes could not come fast enough.

"Hot!" she hissed to herself as she tried to take a bite of the noodles, giving in to her hunger. Grumbling, tongue hurting like a bitch, she trudged back to her room with heavy steps. Once there, the teenager flipped the lights on and set the bowl on her desk carefully. With another sigh, she went to pull the shades shut on her window, but something caught her eye. The moon was full. It's bright face glittered in the cloudless, summer night. Ramen forgotten, she stood for a good two or three minutes, just trying to glimpse at the shape of the mythic rabbit that was supposedly in the moon. Sure, the craters of it made interesting shadows, but she didn't get the feel of 'bunny' from it. In fact, it looked much more like a canine than anything, curled on its side…

He had died on his side, feeling the sting of an arrow in his chest. He had been standing, staring at the face of someone. Someone dear to him. But this person had shot him… and it had hurt. He wasn't sure what had hurt more – the blinding pain of a spiritually charged arrow being driven through his heart or the metaphorical rip the action caused in his heart. He inhaled, trying to calm his emotions, but a small hiccup of sadness escaped his lips.

Again, the voice was female.

…..dammit all.

One thing was clear now. He was not in his own body. He was dead, and was possessing some poor girl named Kagome Higurashi. What was unclear was his own name. What the hell was it? The word seemed to be on the edge of his memory, just out of his reach. But even still, he groped in the darkness for it. Sighing, he focused on the moon that was behind the glass. With a smile, he saw that it was full. He had never thought that it looked like a rabbit, despite the multiple legends of lapin and lunar correlations. To him, it looked more like a dog, but that was because he was a tad bit biase-…

Why was that? He wasn't an animal. But… something told him he was half-dog. Half-dog? That's ridiculous. There is no such thing as half-animal. But having thought about that, there was a such thing as half-demon, right? Yes. That's right. Demons existed. He remembered that, and was sure of that fact. Demons existed because he had been half-demon himself. Half-dog demon to be precis-…

His name. And there is was. Dog. _Inu._

_Inuyasha. _

He was stuck in this poor girl's body, his name was Inuyasha, and he was dead. Suddenly everything made sense to him. That's what that odd dream was. What seemed like just a few minutes ago, he had been crouched over the sitting form of a barely visible girl, shrouded in light despite the darkness around them, before being yanked once again into loss of self. Was that how he became to possess her? That girl must have been Kagome. Although he had not been able to see her face over her blinding aura, he just sort of… knew that he was in Kagome's body at the moment. It felt as if he were wearing a heavy cloak of sorts, in fact. If he were to just… shrug it off, would he disappear? Sure, Inuyasha knew it was the right thing to do; to let her go and live a life without being plagued by random bouts of memory loss, but he desperately didn't want to simply dissolve into nothing. He felt that whatever spell had been cast had connected them somehow. If he were to break all ties completely.. then what? The selfish part of him that every living being has wanted to live—well, continue existing.

What if he could just… haunt her? He wasn't a naturally mean person, just simply rough around the edges. Inuyasha wouldn't be a vengeful spirit. Hell, he could guard her, maybe like this. Making up his mind, he shed the metaphorical coat, but still kept a thread bound to him. Slowly, the darkness of the night became black hair as his spirit rose out of her to drift behind her, bodiless and invisible. It was an amazing sensation to not be bound by gravity nor body.

And then she turned around.

_..Kikyo?_


	8. Ashes of Dreams

How long had she daydreamed, staring at the moon? It seemed like just a minute ago she ha d walked over to the window, but as she tasted her ramen noodles, she found that the piping hot concoction was now almost... cold. The alarm clock on her bed-stand even read a good twenty minutes later than Kagome expected it to be.

With a sigh, she begrudgingly ate her cold snack and opened a math book, only to close it half-a-minute later in frustration. There was no way she could concentrate on her work now. Quickly, she woofed down the rest of her meal before shuffling off to the bathroom to brush her teeth for bed. It was all she could really do at this point. Besides, her body still needed more sleep; she could feel the creeping exhaustion in her bones despite sleeping most of the day. Deciding that trying to regain lost hours of sleep was better than trying to sleep on a full stomach, she laid down and pulled the covers over her. After a few turns, tussling about on her bed, she found a position that was somewhat comfortable, but even as her body relaxed, her mind was whirring away at something. The high-school girl didn't know why, but she simply felt… anxious, unable to fully release the tension in her mind. With a frown, Kagome shut her eyes with determination, trying her best just to let it go and fall asleep.

Thankfully, it worked.

* * *

Kikyo.

Just the memory of the name evoked so many emotions. Were he to have a body, his face would have shown quite the anguished expression. On one hand, his heart ached for him to call out to this Kikyo and declare just how much he loved her. On the other, he wanted nothing more than to rip out this Kikyo's heart as revenge for his own heartbreak. But why? The more he tried to remember his past with this unknown girl, the more his very soul hurt. With determination to know more about himself, he pushed through the barrier that his own mind had locked around itself as protection from the hideous memories that had been created from a life of constant hardships and pain. It was agonizing, but finally, the vision made itself known.

He looked over to the girl as she rolled over in her bedding, a frown on her face, before immersing himself fully in the recollection of anything to do with Kikyo. To his amazement, the world around him was suddenly pulled into an alternate plane of existence. The bedroom was no longer indoors; the walls were no longer present. Instead, the half-demon found himself in a beautiful dale of sorts. The trees around him rustled softly in the clean, wondrously scented wind. It was autumn. With each pulse of the gentle breeze, colors like fire and earth rained down in the form of dry leaves. There was a sound like crunching paper and shuffling combined; the sound of someone walking over the forest floor. Inuyasha's ears pivoted to catch the sound, trying to locate which direction it was coming from… only to realize that he had a body. It was just his memory, he knew, but it was a welcome change to be a corporeal being once again.

It was amazing how just having a body to call your own lifted one's spirits. With a slight smile, he turned to the direction of the approaching person. They seemed to be in no hurry. It was a pace that was defined by quiet, long strides; a sound that seemed to make the person elegant and tranquil, just by the nature of it. It was true of the owner of those footsteps. Without knowing how the knowledge came to him, Inuyasha knew Kikyo to be that sort of person. She was quiet, calm, and composed.

As she entered the clearing, it was true. Even her happy smile seemed more content than enthusiastic. Most were put-off by her seemingly emotionless demeanor, but that wasn't the case at all. She was simply not prone to wearing her heart on her sleeve. And what a heart that was. If Inuyasha had to describe it, he would name it not "of gold", like most stereotypical verse dictates, but rather… platinum. She wasn't cold, but still embodied a kind heart despite her unattached nature. It was the reason why she was here in the first place. Inuyasha couldn't place it, as that particular memory hadn't come to him yet, but he knew that whatever reason it may be, it was significant. Perhaps she went against something life-threatening just to be with him? Yes, that sounded about right. But no matter, the important thing was the present memory.

Her bound hair rustled in the breeze, a maple leaf caught in its long tresses. With a chuckle, the half-demon reached out and plucked it from her shoulder, happy to see that the woman didn't flinch from the closeness at all. Most humans did, due to the nature of his race… but not her. She was comfortable around him, and he was infinitely grateful for that. A small, peaceful smile crossed her features as she looked into his eyes. Eyes that frightened away so many with their "unnatural" color. They were as natural as can be to him, or to any canine; those lustrous ocher irises that covered much of the eye. Animals and more animal-like demons did not possess any whites on their eyes, but Inuyasha did, abet, it was a smaller amount than the average human, making his expressions that more intense with the doe-like quality of the larger diameter of the coloring. Something in his eyes must have caught Kikyo's attention as her small smile grew into a blinding expression of pure bliss. Again, it was not anything associated with "hyper", just simply, "happy."

"What is it?" Inuyasha found himself asking, a hint of his own, mirroring smile creeping into his voice.

"Nothing... and yet everything. I am simply content with the world at the moment." Kikyo replied, raising her hand to brush his unruly bangs out of his face in order to better see those wondrous eyes of his.

"...and why's that?" the half-demon asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Because I am here with you-"

The half-demon cut her off by embracing her; his arms wrapping comfortably around her slight, yet deceptively powerful frame. Her body was much like the bow she favored. All in all, a bow is just a thin branch, but yet full of grace and raw power - especially at the hands of a priestess like herself. Whereas any other human or even demon had to hack and slash in order to kill another demon, all she had to do was fire a single arrow into the beast to completely purify it.

Yet she never once raised her bow with the intent to kill him. Sure, she had pinned him to a tree by firing a volley of arrows at his clothing, but never once had she aimed with the intent to pierce flesh.

Until this day.

Inuyasha watched with horror as his half-brother's stolen blade, Bakusaiga suddenly stuck out from behind Kikyo's back, having stabbed through his solar plexus to penetrate her heart. There was only one person who could possibly own that blade at that point in time...

Naraku.

There was nothing he could do. As it was a powerful demon blade, its energy had rendered Inuyasha paralyzed, only just conscious by his sheer will alone. He would not allow Kikyo's death, even though he knew it to be imminent. She had shouted something. Something hateful.

_Traitorous half-breed scum!_

Yes, that was it. Half-breed. She had never once used his heritage against him, until that moment in time. He remembered, more than heard her continue to yell as her lifeblood slowly left her dying body. It was all his fault. He had actually signed a treaty with Naraku to hand over Kikyo in order to stop the scorched-earth invasion... but it wasn't true. Inuyasha had met her here on his own accord, because he loved her. How that bastard general had found out was beyond him, but Kikyo had died thinking that in the end.

He remembered how with her last breath, she had drawn the bow from her back and pulled the string far beyond her ear, using the last of her strength to empower that one awesome shot. It had blasted a clean hole through him, and Inuyasha had heard Naraku grunt as it lodged itself in his chest, having passed through one body to injure the other.

Kikyo died before her body hit the ground.

Inuyasha soon followed, abet, agonizingly slow. He had to watch from his vantage point on the cool, crisp forest floor as Naraku walked over to Kikyo and gave her cooling lips a kiss, smirking at the half-demon all the while.

His red eyes reflecting the blaze of the red leaves...

Red?

Surely he was a human..

Inuyasha closed off the memory, the autumn leaves turning to ash as a wind blew the imaginary world into oblivion, leaving the half-demon floating in a foggy dark space. Images seemed to be just beyond his vision. Perhaps a figure in the fog walking... was it just the memory starting over again? No, he couldn't deal with seeing his death again. Seeing her face again. Despite being just a floating spirit in a dream, he felt the need to do something he hadn't done since his childhood. To simply cry out his stress... but alas, he had no body in which to relieve his emotions. Instead, he floated about in the darkness of the dreamworld, waiting, no, daring another painful memory to come to him. However, his brain was smarter than his own stubbornness and had closed off any sort of recollections from his life, not wanting to hurt his soul any further.

But then there was a light behind him that illuminated the fog, turning the menacing scene into peaceful rolling clouds. He felt slender arms encircle him. At first, he thought them to belong to Kikyo, but they were much more slender, as if they never had to work a day in the outdoors. The hand shape was the same, but her nails lacked dirt under the overhang from being constantly in use; from digging up herbal roots to helping out the occasional rice farmer to writing scrolls in ink that easily stained the pads of her fingers. No, these hands lacked the calluses from drawing a bowstring multiple times a day. He turned in their hold to see a girl who looked startlingly like Kikyo... if Kikyo never had to worry about anything in her life. Gone was the severe, yet tranquil look. In its place was a blindingly happy smile, streaked with tears. Whereas the dead priestess was moonlight, this was sunlight, and it hurt to see something so cheerful. Even still, the girl embraced him, muttering soothing sweet-nothings despite being a stranger.

Was this her soul taking pity on him? Inuyasha did not want pity. In fact, he had no idea what he wanted. Being dead was kind of a hard thing to wrap his head around; putting all other thoughts on hold. But this new development raised a question: did she dream everything he was thinking about? He frowned, feeling slightly violated, embarrassed, and concerned at once. Inuyasha wasn't too keen on the idea of being an open book, but at the same time, he didn't want to stress out a stranger with his own thoughts.

With a sigh, he returned the "hug" of sorts, muttering to her in return apologies of having to witness that mess. In answer, the arms around him tightened and relaxed, showing that she was completely fine. The girl didn't let go, and Inuyasha didn't feel the need to push her away.

The rest of Kagome's dream was spent simply in the arms of an inhumanly attractive boy, simply comfortable in each others presence.

* * *

Songs:  
Sarabande ; Handel  
Ashes of Dreams / New ; Nier Original Soundtrack


	9. The Morning After

As the dream began to fade, Kagome realized with a start that she was still asleep. As with most dreams, it was hard to tell that exact moment where one begins the dream and when it ends. However, this was not the case. She knew that something else was immerging. She could remember that exact point when the dream began after she fell asleep. If anything, it felt like opening a book to a specific page rather than the jumbled feel of REM sleep. This time, it was a dark fog instead of a lush forest, filled with various trees from all over Japan. Come to think of it, that place seemed a lot like Meiji shrine.

But, gone were the quiet autumn woods. Instead, an oppressive blackness seemed to envelop the world, drowning Kagome in a void. As frightening as it first appeared, the atmosphere felt somewhat calming, sort of like the effect of a child hiding in a dark closet after something frightening happened. As her senses bloomed, becoming accustomed to this new place, the sound of soft sobs came from all around her. Did Souta have another nightmare about Dad? No, this sounded like it was from an older boy, not her eight-year-old brother.

She tried to run, but she felt like it was useless, as if she was suspended in space, rather than being rooted to a solid ground. Kagome's determination to find the source of the sole noise was stronger than the nature of the world, though. Within moments, the blurry form of a figure floating in the darkness came into view. With a start, she realized it was that same boy with long hair from the earlier part of the dream. He was bleeding everywhere. His blood sparkling like molten fire within the void, yet not oppressed by gravity. It was like watching an astronaut bleed to death right before her eyes. She could see a clean hole through his chest; ribs, spine, and all.

Quenching her fears, she approached the boy. He was sad. Dying. Kagome was from a family of those who tend a shrine. It was her upbringing that taught her to tend to the sad. As much as she was terrified of this obviously not-human person, she pitied him, and perhaps even felt guilt. It was a… not-her-person that did this to him, in any case, along with that creepy, oily haired man with a strange sword.

When the boy didn't seem to notice her presence, she gingerly wrapped her arms around him. Looking back, she would have called herself naïve and stupid for doing such a thing, but it had felt like the right thing to do. With awe, she saw that the longer she held onto him, the less blood started to seep out, and the lighter the darkness seemed to turn. Kagome pulled away from him, arms still locked around his middle to watch as his flesh started to knit itself together again. Gone was the angry hole, and in its place was smooth, pinkish flesh, as if it had only been a rug-burn rather than being run through and… whatever that explosion of light was from that arrow. With a happy laugh, she hugged the boy tightly, only to nearly jolt herself awake when she felt his hands cover her arms in a gesture of returned affection.

Everything felt… right, in this world. Despite not knowing a thing about this person, she was content simply because she had helped them. Even if it wasn't real, she felt useful. The fog lifted, lightening to peaceful clouds that she could only describe as golden. It felt like a different world, and not just a dream world. The sensation was much like viewing the Taj Mahal for the first time, or watching an Irish sunrise. To a girl who had been born and raised in the mindset of both traditional and modern Japan, to witness and feel this strange dream-like landscape was invigorating. She nuzzled the fabric of the… karakurenai- colored haori?—that the stranger wore and simply watched the dizzying colors of the sky-world that they floated together in.

Until she felt something shaking her shoulder, that is. Groggily, and with a large smile plastered on her face, she turned over to see that the mystifying clouds had disappeared in order to reveal her own boring room. Her mother was standing over her, with a frown on her face. However, despite her stern expression, Kagome still found it a welcome sight to see. The rays of sunlight from her window graced her older form beautifully, making her eyes seem extremely wise and kind. Her skin, despite losing its elasticity with age, seemed to hold blues and purples and reds, as if Kagome could see every color reflecting off in high definition. It was like waking up to see the real world differently; everything was crisper in sight, smell, and sound.

"Kagome-dear, you're late for school." Mrs. Higurashi said as she smiled, despite the fact that she had come into the room with every intention to scold the girl for not waking up on time. Her daughter's warmth was too contagious for her to remain angry for long.

"Nuh uh." Was all Kagome could say. Still sleepy, her brain had yet to understand that she was wrong. "My alarm hasn't gone off yet."

"That's because you never set it, silly." Her mom laughed softly.

"Nuh-" the high-school girl began to deny, but realized with a start that the older woman was in fact correct. "….how late am I?" she whined in despair before jumping out of bed, already bounding over to the closet to snatch her uniform before dashing out of the room towards the bathroom.

"Roughly half an hour." Her mom called from the bedroom, still chuckling at her daughter's antics before following to the bathroom as well. She leaned on the door frame with an amused, motherly smile. "…I'd suggest you take the taxi to school instead of walking." She said, after a few seconds of simply watching Kagome run through her morning routine at lightning speed.

"I don't have any paper money, mama." Kagome said as she fervently dragged a brush through her unruly, morning-hair. "I spent it all on that night with the girls."

"I'll pay. I'd rather you take it easy instead of pushing yourself just to get to school before your first class ends."

"But they I will not have perfect attendance, which means I'll never get the boy of my dreams…" Kagome giggled, obviously kidding about believing in girly myths and superstitions.

Mrs. Higurashi only chuckled, leaving the girl to get ready in peace and place a call to the local taxi company.

Ten minutes later, Kagome kissed her mother's cheek before hopping into the cab. The driver smiled, giving Kagome a chill down her back.

His teeth were… pointed, as if he had fangs.

* * *

Karakurenai: 唐紅/韓紅 – A traditional color: Foreign Crimson


	10. Set Into Motion

_Major edits, due to plot change. I have finally gotten my muse back, only to have her point me in a very different direction. Ah well, such is the way of writing._

* * *

The clouds began to fade, turning to the quiet of Kagome's room. Some woman, whom Inuyasha guessed was the girl's mother, came in to wake the sleepy Kagome. He floated above her, amused by the seemingly drunk expression she was wearing. Evidently, Kagome was not a morning person. However, when her moment mentioned being late, she seemed to shed all of that sluggish nature and turned into a whirlwind of activity. He followed her, curious as to what all the fuss was about…

Only to walk into the bathroom right as her sleeping shirt fell to the floor. Despite being just a spirit, he had some dignity. Inuyasha quickly drifted out of the room to inspect the grounds. Although the family lived on the grounds of Meiji Shrine, (so a placard said), the house that they lived in was no small shack. Instead, it was a good sized, two story dwelling that seemed to be well kept, despite it's somewhat dated appearance to the rest of the world around him.

The world around him. Towers of stone and steel rose above the horizon like the forests he was so used to. He had seen these buildings before, but that was only on his trip to the west long ago. Despite his want to remember more about his past, Inuyasha could not consciously recall specific events; the only evidence of his prior existence was in the form of latent knowledge that came on an as-needed basis. It was moments like this that triggered hints of facts that he used to know. Currently, the pictures in his … head?—were something about traveling to a land of sands and sun, seeing large buildings such as these. That, and there was an inkling of his current position being familiar. He wandered farther from the house, drawn to the largest natural landmark in the area: a big tree, with _shimenawa_ encircling it, denoting it as a sacred tree with _kodama_ spirits. It was a god-tree of sorts. Sacred and large, it stood out from the small patch of trees around it. His mind told him that a well-house was near, but as he floated off to the direction he thought it was in, he only found a storage hut build in the traditional style.

_Now _that_ is something I'm familiar with for certain_… Inuyasha thought as he laid a spectral hand on the old wood. Yes. That felt native, even though he had no idea why. The spirit only vaguely remembered that there had been a city built like this, with towers reaching as high as the stone ones, having been artfully crafted by _youkai _ over the centuries.

But his musings was interrupted by a shrill, "Bye mama!" as the girl practically sprinted out to the street, artfully weaving through the wooded area to reach the stone steps faster. As she hurried down the stairs, she nearly lost her footing, nearly tumbling to a rather nasty fall… had it not been for Inuyasha. At the last moment, the spirit appeared beside her, his essence practically teleporting to her. His arm shot out without the thought crossing ever his mind that he didn't have the ability to help her. A clawed hand caught her elbow, stopping her momentum in an instant. Kagome yelped, thinking she was done for, but only shrugged and continued to run down the stairs, abet, a bit more careful of her footing.

On one hand, Inuyasha was a bit pissed that she didn't notice…. The other was too perplexed by the fact that he had been able to do something.

Again, his thoughts were interrupted by loud noise as a yellow vehicle drove up to the curb and gave a short blast of the horn. As the girl clambered in the car, so did Inuyasha, easily melting through the opposite door and coming to a rest beside her. The high school girl gave the name of their destination and the driver looked back in the mirror, giving her a smile.

It was not a pleasant one, by far. In fact, Inuyasha was certain that the man had fangs. Upon closer inspection, he… did. Immediately floating to the seat next to the driver, rather than the girl, he stared long and hard into the face of the suspicious man.

…only to catch a wink given directly at him. The two demons shared a look, one dead and one living, and instantly the feeling of dread filled Inuyasha's very soul.

…_.this isn't going to go well._

But to his amazement, the first two minutes of the drive were mostly peaceful, spent behind traffic lights and other cars. Although he was a fast driver, he was skilled. Too skilled. Inuyasha watched as the man changed lanes without even bothering to check if the coast was clear. Fearful of Kagome noticing, he glanced back at her only to find that she was occupied staring out at the city flying by.

Inuyasha turned his focus again at the man, only to again find his eyes staring hard into his face. Again, that expression he wore was one of sheer... Inuyasha couldn't place it, and it made him feel even more uneasy.

* * *

Although worried about her attendance and the speed of which the driver was going, the simple act of watching other people go on with their lives calmed Kagome greatly. She had to thank her mom for this sometime. Maybe buy her a nice card and some chocolate? These past few days had been rather stressful for both of them. Perhaps a quart of ice-cream and a sappy movie? Although her mom tried to deny her childish ways, they both knew she was in love with the teenage romances of the day. The fourth movie of that vampire series was out on rental, wasn't it? Even though Kagome herself found it rather boring, she could definitely sit through it with her mom as a fun girl night. Gods, how long had it been since the two of them simply did something fun together? Their outing to the coffee shop was merely a distraction for stress, not the cure. She smiled. Yeah. That sounded like loads of fun. She would tell her friends that she couldn't go shopping this weekend, setting aside all plans for some quality mother-daughter time.

Well, maybe not _all_ plans, but after spending all of that money on the sword, she doubted that she could afford another shopping trip. However, hanging out wasn't out of her budget. Besides, Sango could use some good friend time. Maybe if they went out for ramen one night to talk about boys and so such? There was this amazing stand near the corner of-…

"We're here." The driver said. His voice was a sweet tenor, cheerful and devilishly attractive. Jerking to attention, Kagome quickly shouldered her school bag and looked up at the man. He wore a fox-like grin that just screamed to say, "I know something you don't". In just those two words spoken, he had conveyed a strange sensation of familiarity on his part, but Kagome was certain that she had never seen this person before.


End file.
